‘Ocean Spiral': Plans for Underwater City Revealed (Pics)

Usually when people talk about colonization in the future, the discussion turns to outer space - people living on the moon, on Mars, or on a giant space station. But there’s plenty of room for humanity to spread out right here on Earth, provided we find a way to live under the water. And engineering company Shimizu has revealed their plans for a way to do just that – it’s called Ocean Spiral, an entire city under the ocean.

The plans for Ocean Spiral have it divided into three sections. First, there’s the city itself, housed inside a giant sphere suspended more than 1,500 feet below the ocean surface, and containing residential and commercial properties inside. Underneath that, there’s the 9-mile-deep spiral that gives the city its name, connecting the sphere to the third section, an “earth factory” that will use the underwater environment to generate energy to keep the city running. And best of all, the designers of Ocean Spiral claim that it’s not science-fiction, that it will be possible in the near future, and that it will only take five years to finish once construction starts.

You can read more about Ocean Spiral at Shimizu’s press release for the project here, and you can see some concept art for the city in the gallery below.